Weather forecast: Met Office warns of more travel chaos to come as snow turns to ICE

The Met Office has warned of more travel chaos to come as heavy snowfall overnight turns into icy conditions and freezing fog descends, sparking severe disruption on roads, railways and runways, as well as forcing thousands of schools to shut.

Drivers were stuck in long queues on motorways after a section of the M25 was closed for several hours, while passengers were left stranded at UK airports this morning as flights were axed or delayed due to the adverse weather.

Meanwhile, commuters were advised to stay at home after snow and ice wreaked havoc across the whole of the southeastern railway network, while the London Underground was also hit by delays.

Yellow weather warnings for snow, ice and fog are in force across much of the UK, including an ice warning in eastern and south-east England until 11am on Tuesday.

There is also a warning for wintry showers in many areas of northern Scotland and parts of north-east England for 48 hours from midday on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, much of the UK will struggle to get above freezing on Monday.

The National Grid has asked two of its coal-fired power stations to start firing up as freezing weather conditions heap pressure on the UK's power network. 

National Grid said it had asked the winter 'contingency' plants to prepare for operation to 'give the public confidence in Monday's energy supply'.

It said the move means the coal-fired stations can be used as 'tools for additional contingency' as needed to allow the network to run as usual and stressed that people 'should continue to use energy as normal'.

The warnings come as four children remain in a critical condition in hospital after falling through ice on a frozen lake in Solihull, West Midlands, on Sunday.

This morning, Richard Stanton, area commander for West Midlands Fire and Rescue Service, said a search operation was continuing today after initial reports and video on social media suggested 'up to six' children had gone into the water at Babbs Mill Park.

He told BBC's Radio 4 Today programme: 'Initial reports stated that there were up to six people that had gone into the water and so search operations have continued throughout yesterday and will continue today to search the entirety of the lake.' 

Mr Stanton urged people to take care near lakes amid the freezing temperatures that have swept across the UK today, saying it was 'really important' people contacted emergency services as quickly as possible.

A primary school in the area said it had closed the school 'due to the incident at Babbs Mill', and asked people to 'keep all those affected in your prayers at this difficult time'. 

Travel disruption is expected on motorways after there were several accidents, with drivers being urged to take care on major roads and not travel unless essential, as the AA said the number of breakdown calls it is receiving is 25 per cent higher than normal.

AA president Edmund King said: 'Many drivers were stranded or severely delayed on the northern section of the M25 last night between London Colney and the M11.

'Traffic is still severely delayed there this morning due to the continuous snow fall. Roads in Kent were also severely affected including the M2, and M20.

'The conditions show that it is essential to be prepared if you are driving.' He urged drivers to check fuel levels and take warm clothing, a charged mobile phone, food and drink.

Mayhem on the roads continued this morning after hundreds of drivers spent several hours stuck on the M25 in Hertfordshire overnight.

Traffic ground to a standstill with motorists moving several hundred yards in hours as cars skidded and struggled in the heavy snow.

A stretch of the motorway was closed in both directions between Junction 23 for South Mimms and Junction 25 for Waltham Cross, both in Hertfordshire, for several hours this morning but has now reopened.

There are delays of up to 90 minutes and 11 miles of congestion on neighbouring stretches of the motorway.

Daniel Duffield, a 22-year-old off-duty paramedic, who was stuck on the M25 for more than two-and-a-half hours on Monday morning while attempting to travel home to Birmingham from London, said he expected some traffic due to the weather 'but nothing this bad'.

He said: 'Traffic appeared to be at a standstill for miles and miles. Other drivers were turning their engines off presumably to save fuel due to the uncertainty.

'A few people were stretching their legs due to delays too. He added that the road 'doesn't appear to have been gritted'.

Other roads in the area with long delays include the M11, M2, A21, A27 and A249, according to National Highways. 

Sussex Police issued a warning for 'treacherous' roads as the AA advised motorists to adjust their driving to the freezing conditions.

Kent was being particularly hard hit, with snow severely impacting the M2, the M20 around junctions 8 and 9, the A21 and the A249, with drivers struggling to get through. 

A mile-long rush hour queues built up after a tree fell across the busy A22 near Nutley in Sussex, where more than 50 schools are closed because of the snow and freezing temperatures.

A two-car crash blocked the A285 in Chichester but it is not yet known how many people were hurt.

More than 100 flights due to serve UK airports were cancelled across Sunday and Monday, with Gatwick, Stansted, Luton and London City airports among the worst affected.   

Heathrow Airport said it was restricting the number of takeoffs and landings today, while Gatwick urged passengers to check before setting off.

All flights were suspended at Stansted Airport last night after it was forced to close its runway due to bad weather.

The Essex airport said the airport is open the runway 'fully operational' but adding 'there will be knock on effects to flights as a result of yesterday's impacts and flight cancellations'.

A spokesman added: 'Crew and aircraft will be out of position so may be not able to operate the planned schedule.

'It was the heaviest snowfall in a short period of time for 12 years, 9cm in around 3 hours, and continued into the early hours.'

An easyJet spokeswoman said the airline is 'doing everything possible' to ease the disruption for passengers after flights were axed.

They advised there were a 'number of cancellations' at Luton and Gatwick airports which are both affected by snow.

'Flights were also affected yesterday as snow closures affected Manchester, Liverpool, London Gatwick and London Luton airports with some flight cancellations and diversions,' she added.

London City Airport said it is 'experiencing some disruption this morning' due to aircraft being out of position after the 'significant amount of cancellations' on Sunday night. 

Meanwhile, thousands of schools across the UK were forced to close today as people were warned not to to travel unless absolutely essential. 

Meanwhile, thousands of commuters opted to stay at home to avoid treacherous journeys amid the rail strikes.

Today, an emergency Cobra meeting will discuss contingency plans for strikes this month, including the possibility of military personnel and civil servants getting involved in a bid to limit disruption.

National Rail said snow and ice had caused severe disruption across the whole of its south eastern network on Sunday night and delays would continue into Monday, 'particularly in the morning'.

'To allow Network Rail to check that the rails are clear of snow and ice, which can prevent trains from drawing power from the electric rail, the first trains in each direction on all routes will be cancelled,' it said.

'We also have many trains in the wrong location after last night's disruption, which will cause further cancellations to services across the network.'

Southeastern railway running out of London Waterloo warned commuters that delays caused by snow and ice will carry on into the morning. 

There is also major disruption to services run by Greater Anglia, South Western Railway and Southern.

There are severe delays to London Underground trains, with all but one line affected.

Several parts of the network was suspended, including: the Northern line between High Barnet and Archway; between Finchley Central and Mill Hill East; and between Edgware and Golders Green; and the Central line between Hainault and Woodford.

People were advised to check their journeys before travelling. 

The UK has experienced its coldest night of the year so far, with temperatures in Scotland dipping below minus 15C.

Braemar in Aberdeenshire recorded minus 15.7C overnight, the Met Office said.

The yellow warnings are in place from Sunday until Monday morning for northern and south-western Scotland, Northern Ireland, north-eastern England, the Midlands and South West as well as London and the South East.

Met Office meteorologist Rachel Ayers said: 'It will continue to be a very cold day, with maximum temperatures of 1C to 4C on Sunday, and, as we head into the evening, we see persistent rain, sleet or snow in the far South East of England, which is what we have a yellow warning out for from 6pm on Sunday.

'We could see 2cm to 5cm (of snow), perhaps up to 10cm in some places, with Kent and Sussex most affected, with areas most exposed such as North and South Downs and higher ground going to see the more significant accumulations.

'There will be ice forming, particularly near to the coast where there is rain and sleet, and freezing temperatures which could cause some travel disruption to start Monday with that valid until 9am.'

Ms Ayers said that although cold temperatures, freezing fog and wintry showers are expected through the week, cloud cover could prevent some of the more extreme temperatures experienced in recent days.

She added that there is a possibility of slightly milder conditions arriving next weekend but it is too early to be certain.

The UK faces its biggest test yet with the current cold snap - which has seen the country suffer freezing temperatures and snow in many areas - ramping up demand for power at a time when supplies are tight.

UK next day electricity prices surged yesterday to help attract power imports through interconnectors from Europe and record prices are expected during the peak demand hours between 5pm and 7pm on Monday.

The instruction for the coal-fired plants marks the first since they were put on standby and comes as the grid said it will also run another test of its demand flexibility service - which pays customers to use less electricity during certain hours.

On Monday, customers of some energy suppliers will be asked to reduce their consumption between 5pm and 7pm this evening.

National Grid says that the service is just a test and had already been planned for today, however, the timing will likely still be useful on a day when energy prices have shot up.

Octopus Energy has promised that its customers can save more electricity than other suppliers, with Drax and Eon also saying they can provide significant savings for the grid.

The grid expects that the coal-fired stations will be ready for use if called upon for the evening between 5pm and 9pm, when demand is set to peak.

The stations are operated by Drax in North Yorkshire and are two of five put on standby under so-called winter contingency contracts, with others run by EDF and Uniper.

The two units are each said to be capable of generating around 570 megawatts - adding more than 1.1 gigawatts to the grid if used.